The present invention relates to an endoscope system that is inserted through the body cavity of a patient for surgical operation to view, and apply treatments or the like to, the interior of the patient's body cavity.
In laparoscopic operation, there are multiple incisions cut open in the abdomen or the like of a patient through which various medical instruments such as cameras, forceps and (electric) scalpel are inserted for viewing and treatments of an affected site while checking up with images taken by a camera. This laparoscopic operation is less invasive of the patient because of limited incision area.
Japanese Patent Publication JP(A) 2007-301378 discloses the technology of driving an electrically-operated joint of an endoscope such that the tilt angle of a trocar adapted to guide various medical instruments inserted through the patient's abdomen is detected to allow the area of interest to come in the field of view of the endoscope.
Japanese Patent No. 4382894 discloses the technology of driving an endoscope such that feature points on a treatment tool are extracted by image processing to allow the treatment tool to come in the field of view.